UK Issues Travel Warning To Tourists Visiting The United States

Trending News: The UK Just Slapped The US With A Travel Warning

Why Is This Important?

Because it’s depressing that it has come to this

Long Story Short

The UK’s Foreign Office issued a travel warning to its LGBT population about visiting certain parts of the US. This follows the passing of laws in North Carolina and Mississippi widely considered homophobic and anti-trans.

Long Story

The laws passed in the two conservative southern states have been stirring up outrage and controversy for weeks now and, not surprisingly, people outside the US are taking notice.

Usually, the UK Foreign Office wants LGBT travelers to simply “take care abroad.” But now it has included a specific mention of the laws passed in North Carolina and Mississippi in the “Local Laws and Customs” section of its US travel advice web page.

It reads, “The US is an extremely diverse society and attitudes towards LGBT people differ hugely across the country. LGBT travellers may be affected by legislation passed recently in the states of North Carolina and Mississippi. Before travelling please read our general travel advice for the LGBT community.”

The North Carolina HB2 law, known as the “bathroom bill,” bans individuals from using public bathrooms assigned to the gender they were not born with. And, more stringently, it prohibits North Carolina municipalities from passing anti-discrimination ordinances designed to protect the LGBT community.

The bill has already cost the city of Raleigh at least $3 million in lost tourism and business revenues, and will likely cost much more as companies cancel their plans to open branches and facilities in the state in protest of the law. By some estimates, another $44 million is at risk. Raleigh city council recently passed a motion calling for the repeal of HB2.

Over in Mississippi, HB1523, the so-called “religious liberties law, takes North Carolina’s law a step further. While including provisions against trans people using the bathrooms for the gender they identify as and limiting the ability of cities to pass anti-discrimination laws, HB1523 also allows businesses and religious groups to deny certain services to LGBT individuals. Those services include wedding planning, adoption support and counselling.

In a statement on its website, the LGBT-advocacy group Human Rights Campaign said, “It is both frightening and embarrassing that one of our nation’s staunchest allies has warned its citizens of the risks of traveling to North Carolina and Mississippi because of anti-LGBT laws passed by their elected officials. It is now more clear than ever that these terrible measures are not only harming individuals and taking an economic toll on the states, but are also causing serious damage to our nation’s reputation, and the perceived safety of LGBT people who travel here.”